"See here, father! Out with your secret! What are you-all keeping from me?" asked Polly, anxiously.
"Good gracious, Poll! Can"t a man feel riled after such a wearing day and with nothing to eat, without his women-folks asking plaguey questions?" cried Mr. Brewster, testily.
Polly was silenced for the moment, but she went out to the ledge where her mother was helping Mike, and there she began again.
"Mother, I know something unusual concerns you-all, so you may as well confide in me."
"I reckon the men are vexed because we lost all this day hunting up those wretched miners who must have accidentally set the fire going on the other side," was all the reply Polly received.
Mike glanced up to look covertly at Mrs. Brewster and the inquisitive girl caught his expression.
"Even Mike is laughing at the poor way in which you are fencing with me.
Now treat me as if I were sensible--not like a baby, or like Bob!"
demanded Polly.
"Well, to tell the truth, Polly, I"m afraid to tell you everything. If those girls know they will go clean daffy," sighed Mrs. Brewster, pa.s.sing her hand over a troubled brow.
"Mother! Did I go daffy when that blizzard carried Choko over the ledge--and what did I do up on Grizzly when the snow and ice covered the trail? Did I lose my nerve?"
At that moment Mr. Simms called out to Mike: ""Most done cookin", Mike?
Ah want you-all to go with me to ketch a grizzly afore it is too dark to see him. Ah promised mah wife she should have a bear-skin rug this trip."
Mike looked at Mrs. Brewster who nodded for him to go. She calmly took the ladle and continued stirring the soup that the Indian had been attending to, then Mike hurried after Simms.
"There now--I know it is something serious and it is much better for me to _know_ what may happen than to have it come upon me like a thunder-bolt," said Polly.
"Well, then, keep on stirring this broth while I busy myself over the rest of the supper, and I"ll tell you. Don"t exclaim, or show any shock.
It is important for us to keep cool," advised Mrs. Brewster, as she toasted some dry bread over the embers.
"I wasn"t present when this occurred but father told me. The men found the miner who had been shot, and down the slope further on, they saw the forms of the other two. But the panic-stricken horses that had been hobbled and left to graze, were so frightened at the clouds of smoke and crackling fire, that a few of the men had to lead them back to a clear place. There they were tied securely to some trees.
"Your father, Bill, and one of his men, jumped down the steep sides where the fire was raging, and began to beat out the flames. They could see the two drunken miners just beyond the fire-line down the trail, but they seemed so overcome with whisky and smoke that they failed to respond to any shouts from the men, or to the fear of the on-driving fire.
"Our men had beaten out the ground-fire half-way to the miners, when a terrific rumbling sounded, as from a distance behind them. Bill"s man was far in advance of the other two rescuers, and perhaps, the crackling on the ground and the raging fire in the trees overhead, deafened him to this other portentous sound.
"Father, however, felt that it meant something more terrible than a fire, so he shouted to Bill and tried to warn the man. But a fit of coughing from inhaling the smoke, cut his call short. Bill then cried, "Go on back, Sam--I"ll get my man!"
"So your father managed to force his way back towards the Top Trail.
There he saw a great white cloud swooping down from the peak of Grizzly Slide. He turned, screamed at Bill and waved his arms to warn them out of the track of the avalanche, if possible. Bill and his man saw this new danger and turned to climb back to safety.
"Father was leading, Bill a short distance behind him, and the man not far in the rear, when the first two heard a scream. They turned and saw the horse had stumbled and fallen. He tried to scramble to his feet before the onrush of the half-frozen earth and rock and snow could reach him, but it caught and whirled him away on its crest.
"Father and Bill were thrown down with the shaking of the ground caused by the terrific slide, and several times they were almost sucked into the vortex caused by the overwhelming ever-growing stream. Had it not been for Mike who had heard the rumble and knew what it meant, both Bill and father would have been lost. But Mike threw out a rope that father caught and quickly wound about himself, while Bill clutched on to father"s legs. Thus Mike dragged them up to the tree where he had bound himself. The horses are gone!"
Mrs. Brewster seemed overcome at the recital of the awful ordeal the men had pa.s.sed through, but Polly said encouragingly:
"Don"t take on so, mother! "All"s well that ends well" and father and Bill are safe, you know."
"Oh, but this isn"t all, Polly! Mike says when Grizzly starts an avalanche like that first one, the very force of its tearing away keeps on breaking away the ice-fields all around the peak. Another slide may come at any moment and pour down this side, you see. The men who had taken care of the horses when the others were fighting the fire were left stationed at the timber-line to watch. If they notice the faintest sign of another serious break on the peak, they are to signal a lookout left on the crest of this slope. And they in turn must warn Bill"s son who was left sitting on top of this ledge. That is where Simms and Mike have gone now. There must have been a signal from Bill"s boy to Simms."
Mrs. Brewster looked at her daughter to see if she could bear the rest of the story. Finding Polly as calm as she herself was, she continued:
"Father said the experience Simms and he went through was mere child"s play to what it might be should Grizzly loosen up and send down a slide on this side of the peak. Of course, the fire and smoke added to the horror on the other side, but the actual avalanche was not as tremendous because the slope was partly protected by the abrupt drop of thousands of feet from the peak to the valley, down which the greater flood must have rushed.
"This side is on the direct down-slope from the peak, with nothing to break a snow-slide, or to carry off the bulk of the debris.
"This morning, when I rode up with Simms" party, we met two old trappers who were coming down. They had pa.s.sed Old Grizzly Slide yesterday, and they said there must have been an awful thaw going on under the surface-ice of the Slide, as the yawning chasm where you discovered the crevice the other day was frightful. It made even their courageous spirits tremble at sight of it. But they turned again and rode up with us, as they said they could be useful to Bill. They are up on Top Notch now, scouting for the first symptoms of a slide."
Polly turned white as she heard the story, but she still had control of her voice, so she whispered: "Why don"t we-all start down-trail to-night? Why lose time cooking supper, and have the men up there watching for the trouble?"
"Mike says we are safer in this cave than on the trail. It is impossible to go down the Indian trail at night, and Top Notch Trail is bad enough in the daytime, so that in the dark it is forbidding. He says this cave is high enough up on the ledge and near enough to the crest to escape most of the drift. The trash will be swept clear over the entrance and down into the ravine, while any snow or ice that might lodge up on the ledge before the cave will soon melt again. Then we can get away, when all is over."
Polly said nothing, but she was thinking seriously. Mrs. Brewster was grateful that her daughter could bear such awesome news without a tremor. So the two completed the supper, and were ready to serve it, when Sam Brewster rode down the ledge.
"Come on, Daddy! Just in time for a bowl of hot soup!" called Polly, gayly waving a ladle.
Her mother admired the self-control the girl showed over any fear or danger, and followed the brave example set her. "Yes, Sam, if Simms wants to chase a bear in the twilight, let him! You will do far better to enjoy the supper."
So they sat down to eat toasted bread and soup, while Polly talked vivaciously and caused many a laugh from the unsuspecting girls. As the meager supper was almost finished, however, Mr. Brewster mentioned in a casual tone: "Girls, Ah expect John and his friends early to-morrow, you know. Mike is going down to meet them."
"Oh, yes! And won"t we have exciting adventures to tell him!" exclaimed Anne, thinking only of John and his coming.
"Mrs. Brewster is going down with Mike, to meet the boys. So we-all thought you gals would like to ride down, too, instead of sitting up in front of this cave all day and night," continued Mr. Brewster.
"Why, how foolish! to kill the horses with all that climbing! Up to-day, down to-morrow, and up again the next day! No horse could stand that!"
declared Anne, amazed at her host"s suggestion.
"Well, Ah"ve been thinking you-all had best stay down, once you get there. This is no sort of life for women-folk, anyway. When John and Tom Latimer get here they can look after your mining interests better than you can yourselves."
"But, Mr. Brewster, you haven"t even seen the hole inside of that cave, where I followed after Polly the day we discovered the gold!" exclaimed Eleanor, greatly disappointed in Polly"s father.
"Ah haven"t had time, Nolla. What with the doings of the claim-jumpers and everything, Ah"ve had a full day. Besides, it looks as if we-all are going to have _some_ time up here, and Ah"d feel a heap easier if you women were safe at home."
"Are there signs of other claim-jumpers coming up, Mr. Brewster?" asked Eleanor, anxiously.
"From what our scouts report, up on the Trail, we"re going to have such a time, if we remain here, that we may not have another good opportunity to escape with our lives," returned the distracted man.
"Oh dear me! Can"t we start now? I never want to see any claim-jumpers again!" cried Barbara, wringing her hands.
"Keep quiet, Bob! We"ll do just as Mr. Brewster says, but your whimpering won"t help any," said Anne.
"Well, girls, I"m so eager to see John again, that I"m willing to ride down with Mike and mother," said Polly, acting her part perfectly.
"Oh, Polly! I don"t want to go and leave the gold mine, but I want you to stay with me," cried Eleanor.
"Goodness me, Nolla! Don"t you s"pose we can ride up again when the danger blows over? A lot of good the mine would do either one of us if a dozen claim-jumpers put lead through us all at one time!" laughed Polly, but feeling far from humorous.
"I suppose I"ll just _have_ to go, if all the rest of you do!" cried Eleanor, stamping her foot angrily.